It was instituted by United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) through Resolution 57/129 in December 2002.

• It was chosen to mark 20th anniversary of UN Security Council’s (UNSC) first explicitly mandated a peacekeeping mission to protect civilians viz. UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) from 1999 until 2005.
• India is the 4th largest troop contributor to UN peacekeeping missions. Currently, it contributes about 6,400 peacekeepers to various missions across the world.